The Football Thread.

mgaw

Kanes distribution is amazing but he doesn’t bring enough energy or movement to the team, no chance of Gareth “the reckless” dropping him though

Placidcasual79

That young Turkish winger who moved to Madrid - Arda. Guler looks a decent player, confident, off the cuff, good technique.......but I think Turkey will suit England - they're open and attacking, they leave space, they dont really group up behind the ball. As long as England don't freeze (and thats a big if I know lol)

mgaw

Placidcasual79 said:

That young Turkish winger who moved to Madrid - Arda. Guler looks a decent player, confident, off the cuff, good technique.......but I think Turkey will suit England - they're open and attacking, they leave space, they dont really group up behind the ball. As long as England don't freeze (and thats a big if I know lol)

Seeing as England are playing Holland playing Turkey would be a disaster

Shrews

Growing into the tournament, peaking at the right time.

We'll beat the Dutch and then it might get a bit tougher against Spain in the final. 

TTony

PhilW1 said:

Kanes like our Ronaldo but without the free kicks, just hangin around waiting for a tap in, managers scared to drop them.

That's not as unfair as I'd like it to be.

thecolourbox

I'm just glad I haven't got to write a quiz to run on Wednesday evening. Hurrah!

Disappointed turkey went out but I'm now a Netherlands fan which should put me happily in a position of contrariness which I'm sure I'll enjoy

mikeyrob73

England are shit housing their way to the final. 

Said it since the group stages

tony99

mikeyrob73 said:

England are shit housing their way to the final. 

What does that actually mean though?

EricTheWeary

IIRC France haven't scored a goal from open play since arriving in Germany (penalty and own goals) so they must be super shit housing their way through. 
I'd like to say England are devastating the competition, play attractive football and look certain to win but they aren't. However, they are progressing and that is what they are supposed to do. 

Hootsmon

It's a funny old game ,no? I was thinking about how England were booed off the park for their lacklustre game that sent them into the knock out stages and Scotland get cheered tae the rafters for getting a corner or an own goal.....you are too hard on them

TTony

Hootsmon said:

It's a funny old game ,no? I was thinking about how England were booed off the park for their lacklustre game that sent them into the knock out stages and Scotland get cheered tae the rafters for getting a corner or an own goal.....you are too hard on them

Shit, I missed that.

Scotland got a corner ????

Hootsmon

guitars4you

It is a funny old game I agree - But we are used to seeing these players in good teams playing attractive football and expect the same - We want to be entertained as well as watching them win  - If our club sides played like that you'd soon see protests from the fans and you'd probably not see them in a top 4-6 place in the league table 

Look at Man U last season - Some very good players but many can't be arsed performance throughout the season - Some games better than others - Yet they won the fa cup with arguably their best game of the season 

I don't see an issue with asking my team to win and entertain - Especially with expectation attached to the players, the team and the manager - Many times they look clueless and certainly limping over the line - Each to their own 

I know it would not happen, but I believe that most top CL teams and indeed our top 3/4/5 PL teams would beat England - And I dare say this would apply across many other countries - RM would beat Spain - PSG would beat France - Man City would beat England - Not sure about BM and Germany - IM would beat Italy - 

Teetonetal

That's kind of expected though. Clubs are limited only by their spending power...

Most International football is definitely a lower level than cl and also the top 4 or 5 leagues

guitars4you

If England was a Netflix Box set with a load of big name actors, then most of us would have stopped watching by now

The main big name actor played no part in it. - There is no story line  - What story there is just keeps going back - The whole thing stutters along aimlessly - No action - But you are told the ending is epic - As I said most of us would have bailed out before the 1/2 mark

JezWynd

tony99 said:

mikeyrob73 said:

England are shit housing their way to the final. 

What does that actually mean though?

The Guardian to the rescue...
Shithousery is a fairly nebulous term, taking in as it does pretty much all the dark arts employed on a football pitch – everything from diving to headbutting via haranguing the referee and time-wasting. Generally, in its most simple guise, shithousery is an attempt to gain an advantage by unfair means and therefore it has existed around football for a long time.

Shrews

guitars4you said:

If England was a Netflix Box set with a load of big name actors, then most of us would have stopped watching by now

The main big name actor played no part in it. - There is no story line  - What story there is just keeps going back - The whole thing stutters along aimlessly - No action - But you are told the ending is epic - As I said most of us would have bailed out before the 1/2 mark

But it isn't.

This is international tournament football and Southgate has done an awesome job. 

We haven't hit top gear yet. It might not happen. But we also might not need to.

However, at some stage it could all come together. We could play like Brazil of '82.

But let's be careful of what we wish for. Right now let's get the job done. Two games left, two boring, frustrating 1-0's will suit me just fine.

Going out to the Netherlands playing like Brazil of' 82, no thanks. 

victorludorum

This tournament and its eventual winner will be forgotten by next year.

Shrews

victorludorum said:

This tournament and its eventual winner will be forgotten by next year.

If England win it, there's not a chance of that with 2 years to go before the World Cup.

Just seen on BBC that nearly 14m watched the Quarter Final. That's even though we haven't been playing well. Admittedly 13m of those could be England haters who just want to watch England lose, but nevertheless more millions likely for the semis and final if we get there.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/crgld39lg4no

TTony

Shrews said:

We haven't hit top gear yet. 

Whilst that's true, it'd be nice to manage to get out of neutral and into any gear at all ...